Now that you know what shade is best, what bulb is best, and where to find the best shades, let’s talk about the lighting extras that will really take your lamps to the next level!
Top it Off
Don’t forget to add a finial! It’s truly the finishing touch when designing a lamp!
Get the right harp!
Don’t forget about lamp harps! If your shade is the right width (remember, the shade diameter should be double the diameter of the base), but you’re still seeing some of the lamp neck or it’s covering the lamp, you need to adjust the harp! Here is a lamp harp that comes in many sizes!
Determine the size harp you need by measuring the height of your shade. That’s usually the height of the harp you need. However, when putting a new shade on a vintage lamp, I have found that vintage lamps have really long necks and I don’t like to see that much of it! Sometimes you need a really short harp to make it work. It can be trial and error!
Smart Plugs
We’ve invested in smart plugs for our living room and y’all, it is such a luxury! We have them programmed to turn on in the morning when our alarms go off so it’s not dark in there. And they turn off automatically, too! So if we’re still sitting in the room mid-morning and the light turns off, you know you better get going and you’re running late!
We use the same brand to plug in our string lights outside. It’s so nice to turn that on and off from our phone. So we never have to turn them off outside and walk through the dark to get inside. These smart plugs are also handy when we are out of town to help it look like people are around!
Middle Brightness Three Way Bulbs
In our bedroom, my husband made our lamps three way bulbs and installed a light bulb that turns on at the middle brightness. It then goes brightest and then lowest brightness before turning off. This is very nice in the bedroom because we’ll turn it on and it’s immediately on the middle brightness while we getting ready for bed. Then to read we turn it up one to the maximum brightness. When we are ready to unwind, we hit it once more and it’s on the lowest brightness. Then it’s off to go to sleep! Changing the order of the bulb is so nice for the bedroom!
It’s the Little Things
It’s the little things that make life so much more luxurious; finials add the finishing decor touch while smart plugs and fancy bulbs make it relaxing!
